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Blooming Marvellous!

Blooming Marvellous!

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On Friday 29th May we heard that the weather was forecast to be warm and sunny for the next four days so we did what anyone would do under the circumstances; we booked to go to Lewes or, if you want to be pedantic, to Offham which is two miles from Lewes town centre.

We picked Offham because The Blacksmiths Arms had accomodation available and it's not easy to get accommodation in Lewes with its own parking without paying for very expensive hotels. There was also a bus into Lewes which stopped right outside the Blacksmiths Arms. So that was settled then and we were due to go on Sunday 31st May.

Sunday arrived warm and sunny. We left home about 10:00 AM and arrived in Offham at about 12:15 PM after a relatively stress free journey.

Sunday 31st May

After unpacking we immediately left again for Ditchling Beacon on the South Downs which was an easy 9 mile drive. There is a car park on top of Ditchling Beacon which was very handy and this is the view that greeted us when we got out of the car.

We were planning to walk along the ridge to see Jack and Jill and so we set off together with numerous other people. This was a sunny Sunday remember and everyone was out and about. Jack and Jill must be along there somewhere.

After a very picturesque walk in the sunshine of some two miles or so we caught our first glimpse of Jack.

Jack as you can see is a tower mill. Very soon after seeing Jack we arrived at Jill which you can see is a post mill.

Jill was actually working, although you can't see that in the still photographs, and occasionally the little vane on wheels would start to rotate as the direction of the wind changed and the wheels would start to move along their track keeping the mill pointed into the wind.

We went inside right up to the top floor where we could feel the mill swaying. It is after all a whole building pivoting on a single post so there is bound to be some movement.

Here are Jack and Jill together with the moon showing above Jack (the black mill).

We shall leave you with this view from the windmills showing Ditchling village at the bottom of the hill.

As a matter of interest that white blob in the distance is yet another post mill. We now have another two miles to walk back to the car but we do get a second look at all that lovely scenery on the way. Along part of the ridge we could see the sea and part of Brighton and a small patch of white chalk cliff further east. Back to the hotel at the end of the day but will the weather last?

Monday 1st June.

Today is another sunny day and after breakfast we catch the bus outside the Blacksmiths Arms arriving in Lewes High Street about ten minutes later.

Our trip to Lewes, as with the other places, will all appear on the main web site in detail sometime later so I'm only going to give a brief account here.

A little way from where we got off the bus is the medieval castle entrance in the High Street. It had been closed the whole of the winter for maintenance and was still closed so we couldn't go inside. It apparently opened later in the week that we were there but we were too early. It looks moderately impressive but nowhere near as impressive as Bodiam or Conwy.

This is the view through the Barbican Gatehouse.

What's left of the Keep stands on a separate mound within the castle boundary and I believe visitors can go up both the Barbican Tower and the Keep.

After looking around the outside of the castle we arrived back in High Street and spotted an old timber-framed building which we went to look at. It turned out to be on the corner of Keere Street which is one of those quaint, steep and narrow cobbled streets – rather picturesque.

We had to walk down Keere Street, of course, and found ourselves by Southover Grange Gardens – a beautiful little oasis in the middle of the town. As we were now at the bottom of the hill we made our way to Anne of Cleeves House which is another fine old timber-framed building which is open to the public but we didn't go in.

A little further is the ruined Lewes Priory.

You can see how lumpy it is around here from the view of the hills in the background.

We went from the Priory back towards the lower part of the town centre by the river. One thing I will say for Lewes is that it has a lot of nice places to eat. We spotted Chapel Lane which gives access to a footpath up onto the Downs but more of that later and we also saw English's Passage which is supposed to be one of the narrowest Twittens in the country and there are houses along both sides.

We were both getting tired by this time but I was determined to get up onto the Downs so Amanda decided to potter round the shops whilst I did the heroic climb. I set off for Chapel Lane which is pretty steep and found the public footpath going up onto the downs. I set off up the path but crikey, puff, wheeze, hang on a minute, gasp – now that WAS steep. After numerous rests the path became, thankfully, less steep and after about one and a half miles I took this picture.

Lewes is somewhere down there in the valley. I managed another half mile and decided I didn't have time, or the energy, to continue so I went back into Lewes and met up with Amanda again. I had walked just over 10 miles in Lewes today. It was now getting late in the day so we decided to get the bus back to the Blacksmiths Arms. We will see what the weather brings tomorrow.

Tuesday 2nd June.

Another fine sunny day so we put Plan 'A' into action which was to travel the short distance north to a place called Sheffield Park. We chose that for two reasons. It was one end of the Bluebell Line, a heritage steam railway, and it was home to the National Trust's Sheffield Park Garden.

The Bluebell Line was a few hundred yards nearer than the gardens so we stopped there first and we were in luck as there was a steam train in the station waiting to go. We weren't going for a ride as that would take too much time but we were hoping to see one.

After the train had gone we had a look in the engine shed. It was a very large shed packed with locomotives on three lines and standing next to some of these on the same level as the bottom of their wheels they looked gigantic! In the yard behind the shed were other numerous locomotives of which these rather cute tank engines were just two.

So now on to our main reason for this trip – Sheffield Park Gardens. This garden, at this time of year, was a revelation and we thought it to be the best garden of its kind that we had yet seen. A detailed report will appear on the web site sometime so I'll give just a flavour of what we saw here.

What a riot of colour and not just the flowers. There were even red, green, grey and yellow foliage on the trees. This garden was indeed blooming marvellous. Needless to say we spend most of the day here and finally went back to our accommodation tired but happy. More good weather tomorrow (the day we leave for home)?

Wednesday 3rd June.

Yet another warm sunny morning but today we go home. However before we do that we decide to go to Devil's Dyke which would also allow Amanda to call in on a plant nursery nearby that specialises in Pinks for some particular varieties that she wants.

Devil's Dyke is a well known beauty spot but shouldn't be too crowded mid-week in early june and that proved to be the case. There is a road up the hill and a car park on top which is fortuitous as we both feel somewhat knackered after the exertions of the last few days.

This is what we saw when we got out of the car.

That view does not include the actual dyke itself but this next view does. The dyke is the deep valley seen from the top looking down. Dyke is another term for ditch and it is said that this 'ditch' was created by the devil.

This view is from the bottom looking up.

So we did that and now it's time to go to the nursery for Amanda to buy her plants. Then we head home. The interesting thing is that after we'd left the nursery around lunchtime it started to cloud up and within an hour there was no blue sky to be seen. How's that for timing?

A rather good trip and wonderful weather.

P.S. By Friday it was too cold for a short sleeve shirt and even with a long sleeve shirt another layer was required to be comfortable. That's English weather for you. :???:

The Chilterns: Follies Galore – Day 2

The Chilterns: Follies Galore – Day 2

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Thomas Gray said "Tis folly to be wise" – so how wise is this then?

That is just one of over 40 ornamental 'follies', or monuments, in Stowe Garden just outside Buckingham.

On our first and only full day on this short trip we cheated and, although still in Buckinghamshire, travelled 30 miles away from the Chilterns to Buckingham and Stowe Garden. First, though, we stopped in Buckingham which is a pleasant old town with some interesting old buildings of which this, the Old Gaol, is probably the most prominent.

Having walked up to the churchyard we saw this view from just inside the gates looking down Castle Street towards the town centre.

We stopped for a brief lunch before continuing to the main purpose of this day's trip – Stowe Garden. Stowe is one of the National Trust's properties consisting of over 400 acres of garden with over 40 ornamental follies such as the one shown above.

In the time we had we could only see a part of this huge garden and March, it has to be said, is probably not the best time to see it. The garden landscape with its lakes and monuments were beautifully lit on this warm sunny day as the Temple of British Worthies illustrates.

There were numerous surprising vistas and secluded corners and this little corner with its cascade, between the Octagon Lake and the Eleven Acre Lake, obviously made a good picnic spot for somebody.

On the circuit that we had chosen this view of the Palladian Bridge with the Gothic Temple beyond was one of the final scenes that we saw before making our way back to the entrance.

An uneventful drive saw us back at our hotel until our final half-day tomorrow after which we return home. :unhappy:

Wells – Days 5 & 6 (Thursday & Friday)

Wells – Days 5 & 6 (Thursday & Friday)

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The weather on Thursday was supposed to include some sunny intervals and when we awoke it was to blue sky and sun. After breakfast we went for a short walk around the city but within an hour the cloud cover had increased to the point that sunshine was in short supply again.

We then elected to go to Cheddar Gorge. We didn't intend to just drive through the Gorge but to find somewhere to park near the top end of the gorge and walk along the top.

Once we knew that we had started down the gorge, it was just a V-shaped valley at that stage, we looked out for a place to stop and spotted a place where there was a layby on each side of the road so we pulled in to the one on our side. We were looking for a footpath that started near a place called Black Rock and after stopping I looked across the road at the other layby and there on a gate was a notice saying 'Black Rock Nature Reserve' – how's that for luck?

Not only that but the footpath that we were looking for started just a few yards along from where we had stopped and that's where our luck stopped. The footpath, in woodland, turned out to be very rough and rocky and really quite steep. Oh well you can't win them all and it should make the walk more interesting. smilies

The steep rocky bit didn't go on for ever, it just seemed that way, and we emerged onto undulating grassland with the wood continuing on our right.

We saw lots of Devil's Bit Scabious, a pretty blue wild flower, along the way which is an uncommon plant as it is very limited in its distribution.

Cheddar

By this time, as you can see in the above picture, we were beginning to see outcrops of the local Carboniferous limestone through which the gorge is cut.

A little further on and the woodland disappeared and the views opened up. It was still rather cloudy at this point but in the distance, from our high viewpoint, we could see the landscape bathed in sunlight. Careful study of the slow moving cloud shadow and we realised that the sunlight was moving our way. We sat on a rock and waited and the sun eventually reached us and this is the view that we had been watching.

Cheddar

The road through the gorge is quite a long way down at this point.

Cheddar

We could now see some pretty grim looking weather headed our way so we started off for the car. Just before we reached the woodland it started to rain, and they were fairly big drops, then we reached the woodland and decided to shelter until the weather had passed. Just as well because a short while later it absolutely fell down. Then the thunder and lightning started. Water started to trickle down path we were on so we moved off to the side a little then the water turned into a small stream.

The storm did eventually pass and we set off again downhill. We decided to drive through the gorge and head for Burrington Combe which we had visited the day before when it would not stop raining.

Cheddar

We arrived in Burrington Combe with the sun shining again. This is where I started caving as a youngster and I was interested in looking at the entrances to some of the caves I had been down then. What surprised me was that cave entrances that I remember being in the open were now in woodland and there was a new cave that had not been discovered when I was caving there.

Burrington Combe is less impressive than Cheddar Gorge inasmuch as it doesn't have the vertical cliffs but is still worth exploring.

Burrington Combe

Whilst there we spotted some wild goats.

Burrington Combe

That was our last visit of the day – tomorrow we go home.

Friday was predicted to be a better day and it certainly was when we went for breakfast. After breakfast we quickly packed, paid our bill, and set off for home.

The surprise is that, because the weather was quite good, we decided to visit Stourhead Gardens on the way and it wouldn't mean going out of our way at all.

We spent about two and a half hours there and all we did was walk round the lake – but what a lake!

Stourhead Gardens

There are 'follies' built around the lake in various places of which 'The Pantheon' is but one.

Stourhead Gardens

The range of trees and shrubs here is astounding and as one walks around the lake many different vistas appear and disappear.

We finally reached our original starting point and continued on our way home but it just happened that our route took us within sight of Stonehenge and our National Trust membership gets us in free. So in spite of it being a sunny day in August and half the world being there we went in.

Stonehenge

Although visitors are confined to a circular path it does pass quite near the stones at one point.

Stonehenge

It is spoiled by the numbers of visitors (it is August after all), the constant traffic noise from the two nearby roads, the fence which goes all the way around and the fact that one cannot get near or in among the stones. From the photographic point of view the later disadvantage becomes an advantage otherwise the views of the stones would be spoiled by the crowds of people that would certainly be milling among the stones.

We didn't leave Stonehenge until about 3:00 PM and what should have been a final two and a half hour drive home turned into 4 hours because of the rush hour traffic on the M25 and the Dartford Crossing where the motorway crosses the Thames and passes through toll booths. We were caught in an 11 mile queue for one and a half hours of stop/start driving when we considered ourselves lucky to reach 20 MPH.

Oh the joys of travel.

Thus endeth the latest trip.

Stone, stone and more stone.

Stone, stone and more stone.

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Well we’re back from the Cotswolds. We had mixed weather with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday being sunny and warm and Thursday and Friday overcast with some showers.

We drove from home to Chipping Campden, where we were staying for two nights, but stopped off at the Rollright Stones, just over the Gloucestershire border into Oxfordshire, on the way. These 77 stones form a perfect circle 104 feet across and stand on a prehistoric trackway at the edge of a ridge.

We continued on to Chipping Campden arriving at around lunchtime. It is a proper working town, not having to survive on tourism alone, but has a lot to offer the tourist. There were many typical cotswold golden stone buildings including the Market Hall.

The following day we walked up Dover’s Hill on the edge of the town which gave some stupendous views over the surrounding countryside.

There were plenty of sheep and lambs about and this lamb seemed pretty ingrigued by us.

A little way north of Chipping Campden is Hidote Manor Gardens – one of the National Trust’s properties. We spent a half day here and what an amazing place it is.

We also had a trip to Broadway as it’s one of those well known picturesque Cotswolds places. Neither of us liked it very much. It is attractive in that it has the typical Cotswold buildings of golden stone but that was it really. It seemed that most of the people there were tourists and most of the businesses lining the main street were aimed at relieving tourists of their money – not a proper working village at all.

Broadway Tower was a bit different. Set out in the middle of nowhere on the top of a hill it’s an interesting feature. We didn’t go up the tower but the views from the top of the hill were amazing.

Thursday turned out to be a cloudy day with showers so we thought that ‘indoors’ would be good and so Snowshill Manor it was. I don’t know quite what to think of it. It’s certainly an extraordinary place with every room crammed with a whole range of artifacts from furniture to bicycles. Apparently the chap who owned it lived in a separate cottage next to the manor and used the manor to store his collection. You’d have to see it to believe it and, no, I didn’t take any photographs because it’s not permitted.

This trip was a good one and more details will appear on the web site pages in due course.

Lavenham again

Lavenham again

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We are now back from our trip to Lavenham and you may have noticed the absence of a blow by blow account. The hotel did have free wireless broadband available to guests but, as happened in Norwich, it wasn't working properly and so I couldn't use it. It was still out of order when we left.

Sunday 29th April 2007

We arrived in Lavenham on Sunday last at about 11:30 in the morning and, as we expected, our room at the Swan Inn wasn't going to be ready until about 2:00 in the afternoon. So we left our luggage with the hotel and wandered off around the town.

In case you wonder what the Swan is like then this is it (built in the 1400s).

One of the nice things about Lavenham is that whichever street you choose to walk along it will almost certainly have a lot of ancient buildings in it. This time we chose to go out of the back of the hotel into Lady Street and up a short way to the Square to look around the many and various nice old buildings including the Guildhall (built in 1530) and owned by the National Trust.

By now it was time for lunch and we went back into High Street and found a little teashop called 'Chilli and Chives' and had a light lunch including cups of tea and coffee.

After lunch we walked north along High Street and back admiring all the inevitable ancient buildings and then turned up Hall Road just to see if there was a 'Hall' and indeed there was. A lovely, large old house with very attractive grounds including a small lake with black swans.

We noticed that at the bottom end of the hall's grounds there was a public footpath running towards the church. Following that we emerged in the churchyard and so went into the rather cathedral-like church.

It has a rather imposing entrance porch.

It's even more imposing inside but I didn't take any interior pictures on this visit as it would require a tripod and that was still in the hotel. I made a mental note to return tomorrow with the said tripod.

It was coming up to afternoon tea time so we walked back to the hotel. After a brief visit to our room we sat down in one of the cosy lounge areas and ordered scones with butter, jam and clotted cream. Whilst we were waiting for our tea to arrive three other people came in and sat nearby. We couldn't help but overhear what they were saying and deduced from their accents that they were Americans. They chose to have the larger version of tea so that, in addition to what we had, theirs included finger sandwiches and pastries. When it arrived, on a tall cake stand in three layers, they seemed so pleased with it they were taking photographs of each other to include the cake stand. They obviously couldn't take a picture with all three of them in it so I volunteered to do it for them and they gratefully accepted my offer.

Our scones were some of the best we'd had – very yummy with jam and clotted cream.

After tea Amanda decided to have a bath so I went out for another walk around. Whilst wandering around the Square again I met the same three Americans from the hotel. It turned out that they had come over to collect their daughter from Law School in London and because the man had been stationed near Lavenham with the American air force about 20 years ago they had driven up here to look at old haunts and they felt that little had changed.

So back to the hotel to try the broadband.

I had, as mentioned earlier, to take my laptop into the lounge to try this and using the information given to me by the hotel tried to connect to the Internet. After fiddling about for 30 minutes I had to admit defeat. I went back to reception and asked to see their connecting instructions again. "Are you having trouble" said the receptionist – I said that I was. "Ah", she said, "we appear to have a problem with that". I wish I'd known before I started as it would have saved a lot of frustration. They were supposed to be getting a man in next day to fix it.

I went back to our room and had a look at the photographs I'd taken during the day after which it was time to get ready for dinner.

We went in to the dining room and what a dining room it was.

Oak beams everywhere and a minstrels' gallery (but no minstrel – pity). After dinner we went back to our room and, eventually, to bed. My mistake at this point was to pull the curtains completely closed.

I woke the following morning when it was barely light and concluded that it must be around 5:00 AM but on looking at my watch I saw that it was actually 8:00 AM. The curtains were so efficient at blocking the light that the room was still virtually dark although it was broad daylight outside. Oops! The next night I left a small gap between the curtains.

Monday 30th April 2007

We had arranged to meet a lady at Little Hall in the Square so that I could take some interior photographs today when the hall is normally closed to visitors.

This is just one of the rooms.

The other interiors will appear on the web site in due course.

After this it was time for lunch and this time we went to a little teashop in Water Street called 'Sweetmeats'. The range of offerings here was pretty amazing. I had a bouillabaisse which is described as a highly seasoned fish stew made from at least two kinds of fish and this had much more than two kinds – very tasty indeed. Amanda had Chicken Madras which she thought was very good. The tea room is upstairs, has only five tables and is run by a trained chef. This place is a little gem so if you are ever in Lavenham – try it.

Off to the church with a tripod this time to take some interior pictures. Just look at that stone carving on the wall of the nave above the arches

and at the risk of straining your neck look at the carving on some of the roof beams above the nave.

After the church we had yet another walk around the streets – we never get tired of doing that in Lavenham. Buildings in Lavenham crooked? Did I say that?

No it's not the camera angle and, no, they weren't built that way. I may look like that when I'm that old.

Later, back at the hotel, we decided to try the bar meals at The Swan in the less formal surroundings of the lounge and we were not disappointed. The menu was different from that of the restaurant but just as tasty and just as nicely presented.

And so to bed (No the broadband problem wasn't fixed today).

Tuesday 1st May 2007

We left Lavenham this morning to return home but that didn't stop us from sightseeing on the way.

First stop was Cavendish. A small village about 12 miles from Lavenham slightly south of west. This view is a well known and often used view of Cavendish to illustrate Suffolk and one can easily see why.

We love some of these names – 'Nether Hall'. Lovely building too.

Leaving Cavendish and moving further west another three miles we arrive at Clare where we find the Old House. I hope that you will be able to see the intricate moulded patterns on the house walls.

Just in case it's not easy to see in the smallish picture here is an enlargement of part of the same picture.

We had lunch in a small tearoom called 'Cafe Clare' which we can also recommend if you are ever round that way.

We made our way home from here after 3 delightful and interesting days.